I’ve sometimes been too scared to read some parts of Stephen King’s books. I was surprised to see him admit in this interview with Andes Dubus, III that there have been two times when he was almost too damn scared to write some of those parts.

The video is more than an hour long, and I encourage you to watch it all, but I won’t keep you in suspense. King admitted that he scared himself towards the end of Pet Sematary and again when he was writing one particular passage in The Shining. “I knew he was going to go up to Room 217, and I knew what he was going to find there….” I don’t know about you, but I remember that part very well; it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

He was also asked where his characters went at night when he was trying to sleep. King answered, “I don’t have nightmares. I pass all that along to you readers.”

Note: If you want to skip the introductions, start the video at 6 minutes 15 seconds.

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Paulette Zander

Based in Connecticut and New Mexico, Paulette X Zander’s short stories have been published in Crack the Spine, Everyday Fiction, 62nd Stories, Pearce Publications, Flash Fiction World and the Penman Review. She has been a guest blogger for Evo Cleaning, AV4 Home, Get Holistic Health, EJ-Fransen, The Cartridge Shop, 1st Angel, The Kitchen Hotline, Funds for Writers, and other websites.
Zander holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. She is currently earning her MFA in creative writing at Lindenwood University.
She dispenses writing advice, random observations, and flash fiction on her blog, Ink to You: Rhetoric for the Masses. You can follow her digitally on Twitter at InktoYou and visit her Facebook page at Ink to You (https://www.facebook.com/InktoYou/)